News

Apple releases iPhone OS 3.0.1, fixes SMS vulnerability

By Charles Starrett ● Friday, July 31, 2009

Apple has released the iPhone OS 3.0.1 Software Update for the iPhone, iPhone 3G, and iPhone 3GS. According to the release notes, the new update fixes the SMS vulnerability publicized yesterday by cybersecurity researchers Charlie Miller and Colin Mulliner which would allow a series of mostly invisible SMS bursts to give a hacker nearly complete control over the phone’s functions, including dialing the phone, accessing the Internet, turning on the camera and/or microphone, and sending more text messages to further propagate the hack. iPhone OS 3.0.1 is available now through the Update feature in iTunes.

Comments

1

Does this update impact the tethering capabilities that are available in 3.0? I have read that the 3.1 release would eliminate any tethering possibilities. Has anyone had any problems since upgrading to 3.01?

Posted by Don Dibert on August 1, 2009 at 8:27 AM (CDT)

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I downloaded it last night and had no issues so far. I’m ready for the tethering option, which hopefully will come very soon.

Posted by dennis on August 1, 2009 at 8:57 AM (CDT)

1

Over here in Australia, we seem to be getting an awful number of people whom have managed to Brick their NON Jail Broken phones. Appears to be at random as well!

Feedback from our US Cousins???

Posted by Phil on August 1, 2009 at 11:59 AM (CDT)

1

>> Has anyone had any problems since upgrading to 3.01? <<

Yep. I now have a worthless, useless brick that has to go back to Apple to be fixed (and I will have lots of company). Be forewarned ... AVOID THIS UPGRADE.

Posted by Lewis Balentine on August 2, 2009 at 5:19 AM (CDT)

1

Mine is fine took a very long time to verify the update in Itunes however but thankfully no bricked iPhone.

Posted by Johnathan on August 2, 2009 at 6:07 AM (CDT)

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Even if there’s a risk of bricking your phone (though I haven’t heard of any cases myself) I’d still apply the upgrade. The SMS hack is worse, and it wont be long before some well-organized hacker starts spreading the pain to randomly dialed numbers.

Decide: applying a patch that has an unconfirmed risk of ‘bricking’ your phone, which Apple will fix ... or letting someone else totally pwn your phone? Not a hard choice for me.

PS - Not to discredit any readers or commenters here, but spreading comments and rumors that an important security patch has a harmful side effect is Social Engineering 101, designed to trick people into leaving themselves vulnerable.

Posted by Eric on August 3, 2009 at 12:15 AM (CDT)

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It is no rumor ... it is a fact that a number of persons around the globe that have had their phones made non functional with this update. Turns out the problem is not the update but problems with itunes itself. It is a problem that APPLE needs to address.

Meanwhile if you do not depend on your phone by all means take a chance on it. Ohn the other hand if you do depend on be sure that you do it during hours that you can get it to the local Apple store to un-brick it. By there way there is software available to fix the problem yourself ... but only if you are running OS X.

Posted by Lewis Balentine on August 3, 2009 at 3:09 AM (CDT)

1

I don’t know if this was part of the update, but my Application Icons are finally fixed! They were jumbled up (my amazon app showed some other icon on the screen, etc) and it looks like this update corrected this.

Posted by Vince on August 3, 2009 at 10:49 AM (CDT)

1

I had no problems before the upgrade, but now I can’t upload more than 1 folder of pictures. I hope ther is a way to go back to the previos version.

Posted by Al T on August 3, 2009 at 1:22 PM (CDT)

1

Just updated and havent had a problem. Everything is working good so far and in no way is my iphone a brick.

Posted by Jim on August 3, 2009 at 7:50 PM (CDT)

1

Just spent the last 3 hours restoring factory settings on my iPhone and restoring data. Tried to update to 3.0.1 and phone went into recovery mode. Still unsure if the new OS was to blame - but a word of warning… ensure you’ve backed up your iPhone BEFORE you install OS 3.0.1

Posted by Harold on August 3, 2009 at 11:50 PM (CDT)

1

the 32gb 3Gs got bricked this morning- itunes (latest) on windows.
had to run into the Apple store and waste 30 minutes (wait, and the restore, and they ran late with the appointment) to get it working.
now have to waste time resetting all the emails, wifi, etc.
sigh.

Posted by onusconsulting on August 6, 2009 at 12:17 PM (CDT)

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WTF, make sure you backup before attempting this. IMHO

Posted by tahosrfr on August 7, 2009 at 1:50 AM (CDT)

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As Eric mentioned, update should be applied. If your an apple or pc user wouldn’t you apply the security update to protect your machine(s) from being hacked, and if one would have private info on the device and you allow a hacker to get it because you are ignorant enough to not apply the update then maybe you should have your device disabled and you private information stolen possibly destroying your financial and social life, just what a hacker would want. As mentioned previously, backup your device. For those that whine saying it takes too much time, maybe you should rethink your priorities in your life or take a time management class, either way take responsibility for your own short comings and stop whining.

By the way, my update went without incident and quite smoothly as all the other updates I have applied.

Well, I can stop venting now as most likely, the whiners will not change and always “blame” someone or something else for their mistakes. And if life throws a curve, fix it and move on, but don’t “preach” to avoid security patches, that is just plain “STUPID”.

Posted by 3gUser on August 7, 2009 at 7:24 AM (CDT)

1

Avoid upgrading to 3.01 for now until Apple gets the bugs worked out.

I started around 4:00 yesterday afternoon by first downloading and upgrading to the latest vesion of iTunes and then tried to apply the 3.01 upgrade. I upgraded because I was told immediatly when I ran the upgrade that my phone could not be backed up with out upgrading iTunes.

My phone is totally messed up. It is stuck in recovery mode. I’ve restarted, reinstalled iTunes and all without success. It hangs at the restoring of the iPhone software. The indicator on the phone is completely full but the indicator in iTunes is stuck on about 3/4 finished. I even let it run overnight last night with no success.

I’m on my 6th attempt and 12th hour of what should have been an easy and uneventfuly upgrade. I have the 32GB phone. I guess I’m going to have to take it in to an Apple store. Big bummer. I hope my backup worked and I get back to where I was before this failed attempt at upgrading.